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Richard Rossner
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LANGUAGE-
SENSITIVE
TEACHING AND
LEARNING
A RESOURCE BOOK FOR TEACHERS
AND TEACHER EDUCATORS
Richard Rossner
Rod Bolitho
Language-Sensitive Teaching and Learning
Richard Rossner • Rod Bolitho
Language-Sensitive Teaching
and Learning
A Resource Book for Teachers and Teacher
Educators
Richard Rossner Rod Bolitho
Cambridge, UK Wymondham, UK
ISBN 978-3-031-11338-3 ISBN 978-3-031-11339-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11339-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To our wives, Natasha and Annick, with
thanks for their love and support.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following people for the support of different
kinds they generously offered at various stages of the writing process:
Lukas Bleichenbacher
Klaus-Börge Boeckmann
Carla Carnevale
Lyn Dawes
Maaike Hajer
Maria Heron
Frank Heyworth
Jens Loescher
Josef Leisen
Neil Mercer
David Newby
Gerda Piribauer
Nataša Pirih Svetina
Ben Rampton
Daniela Rotter
Caroline Schwarz
Christian Sinn
Anna Schröder-Sura
Jason Skeet
Belinda Steinhuber
Gerald van Dijk
vii
Contents
1
Unit 1: The Nature and Purposes of Language as Communication�� 1
1.1 Introduction�� 1
1.2 Section 1: Users of a Language as ‘Social Agents’�� 1
1.2.1 Task 1 �� 1
1.2.2 Commentary�� 2
1.2.3 Task 2 �� 2
1.2.4 Task 3 �� 3
1.2.5 Task 4 �� 3
1.2.7 Task 5 �� 4
1.2.9 Task 6 �� 5
1.2.11 Task 7 �� 6
1.2.13 Task 8 �� 7
1.2.15 Summary�� 8
1.2.16 Some Questions for Reflection�� 9
1.3 Section 2: Variations in Language Use �� 9
1.3.1 Task 9 �� 9
1.3.3 Task 10 �� 10
1.3.5 Task 11 �� 11
1.3.7 Task 12 �� 12
1.3.9 Task 13 �� 12
ix
x Contents
1.3.11 Summary�� 13

1.4 Section 3: Identity and Culture in Language Use �� 14
1.4.1 Task 14 �� 14
1.4.3 Task 15 �� 15
1.4.4 Task 16 �� 16
1.4.6 Task 17 �� 18
1.4.8 Task 18 �� 19
1.4.10 Task 19 �� 20
1.4.12 Summary�� 20
1.5 Section 4: Language and Power�� 21
1.5.1 Task 20 �� 21
1.5.3 Task 21 �� 23
1.5.5 Task 22 �� 24
1.5.7 Task 23 �� 25
1.5.8 Task 24 �� 25
1.5.10 Summary�� 26
1.6 Conclusion�� 27
References�� 27
2
Unit 2: Language and Communication in Education 1�� 29
2.1 Section 1: Language and Learning �� 29
2.1.1 Task 1 �� 29
2.1.2 Task 2 �� 30
2.1.4 Task 3 �� 31
2.1.5 Task 4 �� 31
2.1.7 Summary�� 32
2.1.8 Questions for Reflection�� 33
2.2 Section 2: Context and Communication �� 33
2.2.1 Task 5 �� 33
2.2.3 Task 6 �� 34
2.2.4 Task 7 �� 34
Contents xi

2.2.6 Task 8 �� 36
2.2.8 Task 9 �� 37
2.2.10 Task 10 �� 38
2.2.12 Summary�� 39
2.3 Section 3: The Uses of Language in Teaching�� 41
2.3.1 Task 11 �� 41
2.3.3 Task 12 �� 42
2.3.5 Task 13 �� 43
2.3.6 Task 14 �� 43
2.3.8 Summary�� 44
2.4 Section 4: Learning Talk and Context�� 46
2.4.1 Task 15 �� 46
2.4.3 Task 16 �� 47
2.4.5 Task 17 �� 49
2.4.7 Task 18 �� 50
2.4.9 Summary�� 53
References�� 54
3
Unit 3: Language and Communication in Education 2�� 57
3.1 Section 1: The Language Repertoires of Individual Students�� 57
3.1.1 Task 1 �� 57
3.1.3 Task 2 �� 59
3.1.5 Task 3 �� 60
3.1.7 Task 4 �� 60
3.1.8 Task 5 �� 61
3.1.10 Task 6 �� 62
xii Contents

3.1.12 Task 7 �� 63
3.1.14 Task 8 �� 65
3.1.16 Task 9 �� 66
3.1.18 Summary�� 67
3.2 Section 2: Language and Subjects�� 69
3.2.1 Task 10 �� 70
3.2.3 Task 11 �� 71
3.2.5 Task 12 �� 73
3.2.7 Task 13 �� 74
3.2.9 Summary�� 75
3.3 Section 3: Scaffolding�� 76
3.3.1 Task 14 �� 76
3.3.3 Task 15 �� 78
3.3.5 Task 16 �� 80
3.3.7 Task 17 �� 82
3.4 Task 18�� 83
3.4.2 Task 19 �� 84
3.4.4 Task 20 �� 86
3.4.6 Summary�� 88
3.5 Section 4: The Impact of ‘Teaching’ Language and Questions on
Learning and Language Development�� 89
3.5.1 Task 21 �� 89
3.5.3 Task 22 �� 90
3.5.5 Task 23 �� 91
Contents xiii
3.5.7 Task 24 �� 92

3.5.8 An Art Teacher Might Say …�� 93
3.5.10 Task 25 �� 95
3.5.12 Summary�� 96
References�� 98
4
Unit 4 Language and Communication in Education 3 �� 99
4.1 Section 1: The Impact of Schooling on the Development of a Student’s
Language Repertoire�� 99
4.1.1 Task 1 �� 99
4.1.2 Task 2 �� 100
4.1.4 Task 3 �� 100
4.1.6 Task 4 �� 102
4.1.8 Task 5 �� 103
4.1.10 Task 6 �� 104
4.1.12 Summary�� 105
4.2 Section 2: Aspects of Literacy and Oracy�� 106
4.2.1 Task 7 �� 106
4.2.3 Task 8 �� 107
4.2.5 Task 9 �� 108
4.2.7 Task 10 �� 108
4.2.8 Task 11 �� 109
4.2.10 Task 12 �� 109
4.2.12 Task 13 �� 111
4.2.13 Task 14 �� 111
4.2.15 Task 15 �� 114
4.2.17 Summary�� 115
xiv Contents
4.3 Section 3: The Range of Genres which Children should be able to

Understand and Reproduce in Different Subject Areas�� 118
4.3.1 Task 16 �� 118
4.3.2 Task 17 �� 119
4.3.4 Summary�� 120
4.4 Section 4: A Teacher’s Language Repertoire and its Impact on the
Development of Learners’ Literacy and Oracy�� 121
4.4.1 Task 18 �� 121
4.4.3 Task 19 �� 123
4.4.5 Summary�� 124
References�� 125
5
Unit 5: Building Language Sensitivity into Teacher Education and
Training�� 127
5.1 Introduction�� 127
5.2 Section 1: Improving the Current Situation in Teacher Education and
Training�� 128
5.2.1 Task 1 �� 128
5.2.2 Task 2 �� 128
5.2.4 Task 3 �� 129
5.2.6 Task 4 �� 133
5.2.7 Task 5 �� 134
5.2.9 Task 6 �� 134
5.2.11 Task 7 �� 135
5.2.13 Task 8 �� 137
5.2.15 Task 9 �� 138
5.2.17 Task 10 �� 140
5.2.19 Task 11 �� 141
5.2.21 Summary�� 144
Contents xv
5.3 Section 2: Tasks for Teacher Training�� 144

5.3.1 Introduction�� 144
5.3.2 Task 12 �� 144
5.3.4 Task 13 �� 146
5.3.6 Task 14 �� 147
5.3.8 Task 15 �� 148
5.3.10 Task 16 �� 150
5.3.11 Task 17 �� 150
5.3.12 Task 18 �� 151
5.3.14 Summary�� 152
5.4 Section 3: Drawing on Good Practice�� 152
5.4.1 Introduction�� 152
5.4.2 Germany�� 152
5.4.3 Austria�� 153
5.4.4 Task 19 �� 153
5.4.6 Task 20 �� 154
5.4.7 Task 21 �� 155
5.4.9 Switzerland�� 156
5.4.10 Task 22 �� 156
5.4.11 Task 23 �� 156
5.4.12 Task 24 �� 157
5.4.14 Netherlands�� 158
5.4.15 Task 25 �� 159
5.4.17 Task 26 �� 160
5.4.19 Task 27 �� 162
5.4.21 Summary�� 164
5.5 Section 4: Building Language-Sensitive Teaching and Learning
Systematically into all Teacher Education�� 164
5.5.1 Task 28 �� 165
5.5.3 Task 29 �� 167
5.5.5 Task 30 �� 170
xvi Contents
5.5.7 Task 31 �� 172

5.5.9 Task 32 �� 174
5.5.11 Task 33 �� 175
5.5.13 Summary�� 177
5.6 Language-Sensitive Education: Taking Action �� 178
References�� 180
Appendix: Inventory of Task Types for Teacher Education and Training �� 185
Index�� 189
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 The Four Sides Model (JazzyJulius, public domain,

via Wikimedia Commons)�� 4
Fig. 1.2 Extracts from Indian news media. https://english.deepika.com/
Index.aspx (accessed 28 January 2022)�� 16
Fig. 1.3 Political slogans�� 23
Fig. 2.1 Communication in context�� 40
Fig. 3.1 Page from a UK science textbook (from Gardom Hulme et al. 2017,
p.48)�� 70
Fig. 3.2 Page of a history textbook (from Wilkes 2014, p. 23)�� 72
Fig. 3.3 The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)�� 80
Fig. 3.4 How to search the Internet (from an article by Nicky Levine MFA
provided by wikiHow) (a wiki building the world’s largest,
highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find
author credits at wikiHow.com. Content on wikiHow can be
shared under a Creative Commons License)�� 85
Fig. 3.5 A challenging text�� 87
Fig. 4.1 ‘In a Whispering Garden’ by Thomas Hardy�� 102
Fig. 4.2 Sample B a literacy assessment tool recommended by the National
Council of Teachers of English in the USA. (Source: Kathryn
Mitchell Pierce. ‘Listening In on Student Learning.’ Blog post
on behalf of the NCTE Standing Committee on Literacy
Assessment. October 4, 2019)�� 112
Fig. 4.3 A typical task for assessing basic adult literacy (freely adapted
from an Internet source)�� 113
Fig. 4.4 Genre-based curriculum cycle (Hammond 2001, p. 28,
cited in Beacco et al. 2016)�� 120
Fig. 5.1 Issues from lesson observation�� 141
Fig. 5.2 Diagram of photosynthesis�� 143
Fig. 5.3 Parasites�� 146
Fig. 5.4 Making Maps�� 149
Fig. 5.5 Characteristics of words and phrases (from van Dijk et al., 2021)�� 161
xvii
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Roles and purposes in language use�� 2

Table 1.2 Sample SMS exchange�� 6
Table 1.3 A four-dimensional model of language and communication�� 7
Table 1.4 Extract from census form�� 19
Table 2.1 Example of classroom language use�� 36
Table 2.2 Two ways in which teachers use language in class�� 37
Table 2.3 Repertoire of learning talk (based on Alexander 2018, p. 8)�� 47
Table 3.1 Thinking about your language repertoire�� 58
Table 3.2 Percentage proportion of children in a selection of local authority
areas in the UK whose first language is not English�� 61
Table 3.3 Possible difficulties with language at school�� 64
Table 3.4 Situations where scaffolding may be useful�� 76
Table 4.1 Literacy and Oracy Activities�� 110
Table 4.2 Sample A (to assess writing at different levels) (freely adapted
and simplified from an Internet source)�� 111
Table 4.3 Oracy Framework © Voice 21, 2022. Developed in partnership
with Oracy Cambridge, University of Cambridge�� 114
Table 5.1 �� 131
Table 5.2 Factors to consider when designing a teacher education module
on language sensitivity�� 133
Table 5.3 Some factors to consider when designing an in-service training
course on language sensitivity�� 134
Table 5.4 Language-related subskills needed for subject specialist teacher�� 150
Table 5.5 Appropriate and inappropriate teacher language�� 154
Table 5.6 Statements about beliefs�� 165
Table 5.7 Steps towards language-sensitive teacher education�� 170
xix
Introduction
What Is Language-Sensitive Teaching?
The teaching and learning of any subject involve using language most of the time.
It is therefore very important that teachers at all levels in education think carefully
about how best to use the language effectively, and how to ensure that their students
are able to use this language to advance their learning and cognitive and social
development. The issue of language in education has become even more urgent as
schools, especially those in Europe, have become linguistically and culturally more
heterogeneous due to migration and the need for some students to adapt to using a
language other than their first language in education. But many students for whom
the language used at school is their first and only language, especially those from
more deprived backgrounds, also have challenges when it comes to language and
literacy.
The Aim of the Book
The purpose of the book is to offer teachers and student teachers of any subject,
including teachers of the language of schooling and of foreign languages, opportu-
nities to become more familiar with the workings of language in everyday use and
especially in classroom and online teaching and learning. The book also offers ideas
which can be used or adapted for modules in teacher education courses or in plan-
ning professional development activities for practising teachers, and the last unit is
aimed specifically at those working in the field of teacher education, including cur-
riculum development for teacher education, and in-service development.
While the book is written in English, most of the tasks and commentaries are
relevant for teachers working in other language contexts and the tasks selected can
be adapted and/or translated for different environments.
xxi
xxii Introduction
What Does the Book Contain?
There are five overlapping units. The units are divided into sections containing sev-
eral tasks each focusing on an aspect of the uses of language in education or, in Unit
1, in everyday situations. Each task or group of tasks is followed by a commentary
with suggested answers and/or discussion of relevant issues. Every section ends
with a brief summary and two or three questions for reflection.
Using the Book
There is no set pathway through the tasks and commentaries in the book. The first
four units can be worked through from beginning to end, but a more flexible
approach may be to select topics from the contents page and to identify tasks in the
relevant sections that will be useful for you as a teacher or for given purposes in
teacher education or professional development. It is advantageous to do the tasks,
where possible, with someone else or in a group, so that issues and answers can be
discussed, but the tasks are also designed to be useful to those working alone, for
example as assignments that are part of a teacher education course.
Unit 5 is designed specifically for teacher educators and those supporting prac-
tising teachers, but teachers may also find tasks there which are relevant to their
needs. The unit also contains a suggested ‘core syllabus’, which can serve as a menu
for teacher education modules or for individual and collective professional
development.
Chapter 1
Unit 1: The Nature and Purposes
of Language as Communication
1.1 Introduction
‘Language’ is a catch-all term for a means of communication. It is generally

regarded as an essentially human characteristic, though there is evidence of highly
developed patterns of communication in animals and birds. ‘Language’ is also used
as a specific term, to describe the accepted norm of communication in a particular
homogeneous group of speakers. In this specific sense, the language used by one
group is not available to all speakers in another group, and so its use as an effective
means of communication is restricted. Within the ‘home’ group of a particular lan-
guage, however, it is usually the main means of establishing social cohesion, of
intelligible daily exchanges at every level of society and, importantly, of affirm-
ing aspects of identity. In this opening unit, we explore some of the dimensions of
language in communication as a way of providing a wider context for our discus-
sion of the educational issues that we address in the rest of the book.
1.2 Section 1: Users of a Language as ‘Social Agents’
1.2.1 Task 1
If we accept that users of any language are potentially ‘social agents’, i.e. members
of society who have tasks to perform, we also recognise that these tasks are differ-
entiated and that each contributes in a different way to the functioning of society as
a whole. To see this more clearly, we invite you to complete Table 1.1, either indi-
vidually or in discussion with a colleague. We have provided an example.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
R. Bolitho, R. Rossner, Language-Sensitive Teaching and Learning,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11339-0_1
2 1 Unit 1: The Nature and Purposes of Language as Communication
Table 1.1 Roles and purposes in language use

Language user Main role and context Purposes in using language
A taxi driver To carry customers safely Clarifying destination; asking for the fare;
from place to place; in a car perhaps social chat
A nurse
A waiter
A TV newsreader
A teacher
1.2.2 Commentary
This simple task illustrates some important requirements of any language, for
example the need for the avoidance of misunderstandings, a capacity for flexibil-
ity and adaptability to new situations and demands, scope to express shades of
meaning and emotions, reliance on shared and accepted cultural and societal
norms and ways of avoiding ambiguity in instructions or explanations. Each of the
jobs mentioned above has a recognised place in any society, but none of them
could be carried out successfully without the focused, and sometimes specialised,
use of language. Some involve dialogue with another person, the nurse for exam-
ple, whereas others, the newsreader for instance, are more monologic in nature, at
least for part of the time. All will have a social niche outside their job role, with
family or friends, and in that context they will use language in different ways and
with different purposes. Native speakers of any language will usually switch eas-
ily and comfortably from one social context to another, though sometimes bound-
aries are crossed. I recently heard an annoyed wife saying to her husband, ‘Don’t
use your football coach tone to me!’
But communication doesn’t always go smoothly, even between speakers of a
shared language, as the following extracts and tasks illustrate.
1.2.3 Task 2
In this first example, what role does the parent adopt? And how does the child
bring him back on track?
Child: Why are Batman and Robin called the dynamic duel?
Parent: Duo. It means two people together.
Child: Yes, but why are they called the dynamic duo?
Parent: Dynamic means exciting, full of action.
Child: Like dynamite, ‘cos they’re dynamite
data from Sealy (1996)
1.2 Section 1: Users of a Language as ‘Social Agents’ 3
1.2.4 Task 3
In this example, starting with a short phone call, what is the probable cause of
the husband’s last response?
Wife: Hello, darling. I’m staying a bit later at work then going for a drink with some of
the team. Is that OK with you?
Husband: OK, fine. See you later.
(….)
Wife (arriving home after the children’s bedtime): Hi, darling. Is everything OK?
Husband: No, everything is definitely not OK ….
1.2.5 Task 4
What could have been done to avoid the misunderstanding expressed in this
exchange of email messages?
Supplier to recipient of goods: We delivered your order in three days as agreed.
That was two weeks ago and we still haven’t received payment from you.
Recipient to supplier: We settle all invoices within thirty days. You can expect
payment soon.
1.2.6 Commentary
Misunderstandings and miscommunications like these happen all the time, in pro-
fessional as well as personal interactions, and it may be useful for those involved in
language education to understand why. The Four Sides Model, developed by Schulz
von Thun (1981), may be helpful here. He postulates that there are potentially four
aspects to any message sent by one person to another, and the same four elements
are present in the way in which a listener receives the message, though there may be
differences between the speaker’s intentions and the listener’s understanding. The
model is captured in Fig. 1.1:
In Task 2, the parent assumes a teacher role, but the child uses emphasis to focus
his parent on what he wants to know…The parent’s listening ear at first focuses on
a detail of the message rather than on exactly what the child wants to know, and the
child has to ‘re-send’ the message in order to get the response he is looking for. The
parent’s second response resolves the query to the child’s satisfaction and enables
him to create a mnemonic that he can use to remember the new word and its
meaning.
In Task 3, the husband simply assumes that his wife wouldn’t be very late, and
he doesn’t check on her expected return time. When she comes home later than he
expected, he is annoyed, perhaps because she is normally at home at the children’s
bedtime. Her initial appeal to him is based on their personal relationship. She obvi-
ously feels comfortable about revealing her plans and gives some factual
Fig. 1.1 The Four Sides Model (JazzyJulius, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
information to explain them. The husband’s listening ear picks all of this up but he
doesn’t reveal any of his expectations or assumptions, and this leads to the annoy-
ance he experiences when she comes home.
In Task 4, there is a mismatch between the recipient’s and the supplier’s under-
standing of the terms of business, something that it would have been better to clear
up when the order was placed. There is no evidence of face-to-face contact in the
exchange, and so Schulz von Thun’s model is not directly relevant here.
1.2.7 Task 5
Communication between people who know each other usually takes place on the
basis of shared assumptions. These may involve issues of status, accepted traditions
or behaviour norms, cultural factors or even the right to initiate or conclude an inter-
action. When a journalist interviews a politician on television, for example, the
interaction usually starts with an exchange of courtesies, but quickly progresses to
a series of prepared questions from the interviewer to the politician, which the poli-
tician will try to answer on her/his own terms rather than those of the questioner.
This extract, freely adapted from a real source, is not untypical:
Interviewer: I’d like to talk to you about the latest crime figures. They show a worrying
increase in knife crime, particularly among teenagers. Why is this happening?
Politician: I agree that it’s worrying but, with the police, we are urgently exploring ways
of tackling the problem.
Interviewer: That’s good to hear, but don’t you need to find out what’s causing it?
Politician: We are committed to eradicating knife crime completely and we are recom-
mending an amnesty for people to hand in their knives without fear of arrest. We believe
this will ….
Interviewer: Forgive me for interrupting, but don’t you need to address the causes and
not just the crime itself.
Politician: We think the figures you mentioned may be misleading, and they certainly
vary in different locations around the country. Take London, for example ….
Interviewer: But the fact is that more and more people—often young people—are being
killed and injured in knife attacks. Why is that happening?
Politician: To come back to my earlier point, before you interrupted me … London has
a higher incidence of knife crime than some other cities and we are focussing on towns and
cities that show rising trends ….
Interviewer: And will you be looking into the reasons behind this?
Politician: If you’ll just let me finish my point, I’ll try to answer …:
The interviewer and the politician both have defined roles to play in this exchange.
What are these roles, and how do they play out during the interview?
1.2.8 Commentary
This kind of interchange is very rarely about misunderstanding. It is about two dif-
ferent and conflicting agendas or purposes: the interviewer exercising his right to
push for answers in the public interest and the politician trying to alter the course of
the interview in order to make party political points. Each of the protagonists knows
exactly what the other is trying to achieve, and so the real issue here is one of con-
trol. Successful interviewers try to remain courteous but they do not, on the whole,
defer to powerful politicians. In many cultures and contexts, but by no means in all,
this is seen as a legitimate holding to account of political leaders. The same behav-
iour in most business negotiations or round a family dinner table would be regarded
as highly unusual and even unacceptable except in the context of a real argument.
1.2.9 Task 6
What is going on in this everyday exchange? To what extent do mother and daughter
understand each other?
Mother: Julia, you’re definitely going to miss the bus!
Daughter: Oh no! I can’t find my sports bag. Where have you put it?
Mother: I haven’t touched it. Your lunch box is on the kitchen table.
Daughter: Can’t you turn the radio down? Anyway, I have to run.
Mother: Have a good day. Love you!
Daughter: Bye
(adapted from personal experience)
1.2.10 Commentary
Again, there are no real misunderstandings here despite the superficial evidence that
mother and daughter are talking past each other in the heat of the moment and have
different preoccupations. Here, we are looking at an exchange that is probably
repeated in one form or another on a daily basis, and each of the speakers has a dif-
ferent and possibly conflicting immediate agenda while moving towards the same
further goal, which is for Julia to catch the bus.
When misunderstandings or conflicting agendas do arise in spoken interaction,
the immediacy of speech allows them to be explored and put right if both parties are
committed to resolving the situation. This has until recently been much less easy to
achieve in written exchanges. Over many centuries, people came to regard the writ-
ten word as permanent and powerful, and written communication between two
people, usually by letter, was always subject to time delay before an answer was
composed and received. Letter writing was also regarded as something of a literary
form and collected correspondence was evidence of the thought processes and phil-
osophical positions of the writers, as well as valuable chronicles of the age in which
they lived. That era does seem to be coming to an end as more immediate, informal
and ephemeral means of written communication have become such a regular feature
of our lives. People in offices complain about the number of email messages in their
inbox, and often set about replying to them as though an instant response is inevi-
table. This is even more the case with text messaging and online chats, which have
even developed their own shorthand and, like quick spoken exchanges, often rely on
shared assumptions as a basis for successful communication.
1.2.11 Task 7
Try to decode this example of chat between two friends (Table 1.2):
Table 1.2 Sample SMS exchange
Why didn’t u come yesterday? ☹ RUOK?

B/C I’m B2D with parties.
NP Can u come over 2nite? We can chill
out then go 4 a burger + FFs
OK but G2G now
Great. CuL8R
1.2.12 Commentary
It’s easy to see why some adults are baffled by this sort of exchange, but that is part of the
point! Friends use devices like these as part of a well-established communication code
within their peer group, and parents are not supposed to belong to this group. It is easy to
see, though, why some linguists and education professionals have begun to express con-
cern about the impact of texting and the language used in social media chat on the general
level of literacy among young people. Ashley Campbell summed it up in these terms:
There have been suggestions from both media sources and educators that texting may have
a negative effect on the literacy skills of students. Perhaps the biggest problem is that stu-
dents do not distinguish between times when they need to write formally without using ‘tex-
tisms’, and when they are writing informally and the use of textisms is acceptable. With more
long term studies on the same group of individuals, it may be possible for researchers to
determine if the use of textisms does indeed have negative effects on literacy. With long term
studies, it may be possible to see if individuals carry the textisms that they use in their per-
sonal correspondences into their formal writing in a workplace environment. Until the time
that concrete results are acquired to suggest that texting has deleterious effects, it may be
wise to encourage students to lessen their use of textisms, and to instead use proper grammar
and spelling while they are using texting as a form of communication. (Campbell 2014)
However, this view is far from universal, as this extract from an interview with
the novelist Margaret Atwood shows:
You get a lot of nonsense about, ‘Won’t Twitter destroy English language?’ Well, did the
telegram destroy the English language? No …. So it is a short form communication method,
like writing on washroom walls. Or like Romans writing graffiti back in Rome, or Vikings
writing runes on the walls of tombs they had broken into. You weren’t going to write a novel
on the wall of a tomb. But you were going to write ‘Thorfeld was here,’ which is pretty much
what they wrote. ‘Found no treasure. Shit.’ (Slone 2013)
1.2.13 Task 8
Here you may find it useful to make a few notes on both sides of the argument. Do
you agree with the last sentence in the quote from Campbell or are you more in
favour of Atwood’s more liberal view? Reasons?
1.2.14 Commentary
With developments in modes of communication like these in mind, it may be useful

to refer to a four-dimensional, socially rooted model of language and communica-
tion such as the one in Table 1.3, offered here with no claim to comprehensiveness
but with examples, which you may want to add to.
Table 1.3 A four-dimensional model of language and communication

Insider/Internal
(within an established social, External
educational or professional group) (beyond an established group, with ‘outsiders’)
Informal For example For example
• Talk within a family or peer group • Talk with distant relatives, friends of
(e.g. friends or workplace friends, newcomers to a group, etc.
colleagues) • Blogs
• Online chat • Posts on social media
• Social media interaction
Formal For example For example
• Manager < >employee talk • Talk in meetings with business partners
• Talk in internal meetings • Talk with officials and authorities
• Teacher < >pupil talk in class settings • Interviews for jobs, grants, etc.
• Emails, letters
Clearly, there are different degrees of formality and informality in different situ-
ations, and skilled communicators draw on their pragmatic competence to make the
necessary adjustments in speech more or less spontaneously, and in writing usually
in a more conscious and considered way.
Technology, as the examples above show, has had a profound influence on the
way we all communicate, and a consequence has been for us all to be much more
conscious of the need to identify the purpose behind the messages we read and the
news we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis. People (and there are many) who
have very active social media accounts with lots of followers are now described as
‘influencers’, an epithet which has only recently come into common use. Handling
the information explosion is now a priority for children at school, and it is seen in
curriculum documents as a key twenty-first century skill. Personal identity associ-
ated with email accounts, social media and even the posting of news items can all
too easily be concealed in ways that make it very difficult to trace the originators of
financial scams, fake news and malicious messaging. Where once bullies plied their
hateful trade face to face, they can now do it online without necessarily having to
face the consequences. Where fraudsters once had to confront their victims at the
front door, they can now approach vulnerable people anonymously online or by
telephone. And where journalists were once visibly accountable for everything they
wrote or reported, it is now possible for anybody with malign intent to spread fake
news and propaganda without even being identified as the original authors. It is
clearly essential for the present and future generations of school children to learn
how to recognise fraud, malice and false information quickly and effectively.
1.2.15 Summary
In this section, we have looked at some ways in which we are all social agents, using
language, with all its imperfections, for a wide range of purposes according to our
priorities in life and our various roles in society. The decisions we make about com-
munication affect those around us most immediately, but technology now enables us
to reach far beyond the inner circle of our family, friends or workplace colleagues
and to do good or ill to those we are able to contact. As many of us found out during
the COVID pandemic, the power of technology has also been harnessed to the cause
of education, keeping schooling and university studies going at distance while so
many people have been unable to meet face to face in normal educational settings.
Some of these developments would undoubtedly have happened anyway, but the
exigencies of the global health emergency certainly accelerated the process.
In the next section, we will look more closely at the choices we make when using
language, according to our intentions as communicators, and at the ways in which
we tune our communication strategies to reflect these intentions and our awareness
of the people we interact with.
1.3 Section 2: Variations in Language Use 9
1.2.16 Some Questions for Reflection
(a) Think of an example of a miscommunication which you have experienced. Try

to recreate the language that was used and make notes about how the misunder-
standing could have been cleared up.
(b) What kind of ‘insider talk’ have you taken part in? In what settings, with whom
and for what purposes?
1.3 Section 2: Variations in Language Use
As we mature, most of us become more and more sensitive to the people we are with
and the situations in which we find ourselves, and consequently more and more able
to vary and tune the language we use accordingly. Let’s start by considering a cou-
ple of examples.
1.3.1 Task 9
What changes from the first exchange to the second in this example? Why does
Margaret make those changes?
Margaret: How did my father’s operation go?
Surgeon: As well as could be expected, but he had respiratory problems and we decided
on a tracheotomy as a temporary measure.
Margaret: Oh dear! That sounds bad. Is he going to recover?
Surgeon: In cases like this, the prognosis is generally good, but we’ll know more when
the effects of the anaesthetic have worn off.
Margaret: When will that be?
Surgeon: Later this evening … maybe around 10. You could call again then.
Margaret: I will. And thanks for all you’ve done.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
(5 minutes later)
Margaret: I’ve just spoken to the hospital, darling.
Anna (daughter, aged 10): How’s Grandpa?
Margaret: He’s resting after his operation. They’re helping him to breathe more easily.
Anna: But he’s going to get better, isn’t he?
Margaret: They think so. Most people do after an operation like that. We’ll know better
when he wakes up.
1.3.2 Commentary
Here there is evidence of a speaker adjusting her language according to who she is
speaking to (her interlocutor). Margaret understands the medical terms the surgeon
uses, but knows very well that Anna, at her age, would struggle with them and might
even be scared by them. For this reason, she explains things in a way which she
knows Anna will understand and perhaps be reassured by. This is a kind of media-
tion of information which parents often use when explaining something to their
children. This kind of versatility in a language user is learned behaviour, built up
over a long period of time starting in childhood. In the next task, there is an example
of a very early stage in that kind of development.
1.3.3 Task 10
Look through these short exchanges between family members. How old would you
say Emily is? What has she learned to do with language? What might she still need
to learn?
Emily: I want more jelly beans!
Mother: So how do you ask nicely?
Emily: Can I have jelly beans?
Mother: … and one more word?
Emily: … pleeeeease!
Mother: Good girl. Here you are. Now go and share them with your brother.
………………………….
Jake: Oooh! You’ve got jellybeans!
Emily: They’re mine! You can’t have any!
Jake: But Mummy said to share them.
Emily (after thinking): You can have two! But only if you ask nicely.
Jake: Can I have my jellybeans, please?
Emily: Here you are..!. I want to play with Teddy.
Jake: You can’t! He’s mine!
…………………………..
Emily: Mummy, Jake won’t give me Teddy. It’s not fair!
Mother: Did you ask him nicely?
Emily (after thinking): No, but I still want to play with Teddy.
Mother: Well … you know how to ask.
1.3.4 Commentary
In this extract, Emily (aged 4) is reminded by her mother about how to ask for some-
thing she wants. She obviously wants the jellybeans (a kind of sweet) very badly
and so she is motivated to comply. She then applies the same condition to her little
brother, as often happens between siblings. However, she clearly associates this
kind of polite request with jellybeans, and she fails to transfer her newly acquired
linguistic know-how to a slightly new situation and has to rely on her mother to
remind her again about how to ask politely for what she wants. Children need this
kind of reinforcement constantly, and it comes from parents, teachers, other adults
and older siblings in everyday situations like the one illustrated in the extract.
The next task is based around a dialogue in which we see that even adults some-
times struggle to cope in commonplace situations.
1.3.5 Task 11
Look at this exchange between a car mechanic and his customer. Why do you think
the customer is so ready to accept the mechanic’s estimate?
Customer: Have you had time to look at my Toyota?
Mechanic: Yes, I have. It’s in quite a state to be honest.
Customer: Oh dear, tell me the worst.
Mechanic: Well, to start with, the distributor needs replacing, the track rod ends are clapped
out and you’re going to need a new starter motor soon.
Customer: Anything else?
Mechanic: Yes, the suspension is about to collapse and the exhaust manifold is blowing. It
shouldn’t really be on the road.
Customer: Hmmm! Can you give me an estimate for the work?
Mechanic: I’m afraid spares don’t come cheap for such an old Toyota. You’re looking at
more than £600 plus VAT, I’m afraid.
Customer: Phew! That’s a bit of a shock. But I don’t have a choice, so please go ahead and
do what needs to be done!
1.3.6 Commentary
The obvious answer to the task is that the customer needs the car and can’t repair it
himself. The mechanic knows this and so feels quite free to list all the defects in
technical terms, adding a warning intended to scare the customer just a little. The
customer probably doesn’t understand all the technical terms and simply feels
unable to challenge the mechanic’s obvious expertise. This creates a dependency
relationship that leads to the customer’s unquestioning acceptance of the estimate,
even though it is clearly approximate. This might be seen as a failure on the cus-
tomer’s part to ask for a breakdown of the costs or a more comprehensible explana-
tion of the work that is needed. However, what is also missing here is any attempt
by the mechanic to mediate by explaining the problems in lay terms, either because
it is not in his interests to do so or because he simply hasn’t mastered the linguistic
flexibility this would require.
1.3.7 Task 12
What kind of linguistic flexibility does the business reporter need in order to do
what the television audience needs from him?
Newscaster: Here, to explain more about the so-called TTIP agreement and its significance,
is our senior business editor Tom Cannon.
Cannon: OK, let’s start at the beginning. TTIP stands for the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership. It’s an agreement which is being negotiated between the U.S. and
the E.U. The advantages of TTIP are evident. Greater growth would create jobs and pros-
perity for both areas because there is an existing basis of investment in both directions. It
would require a fair amount of norming of standards, especially in food industries and car
production, but most economists agree that the benefits are there for all to see.
Newscaster: Aren’t there any downsides?
Cannon: There are. The White House is worried about increased competition for
American businesses and the dangers of unemployment as a consequence. EU member
states are particularly concerned about the impact on farmers and agriculture of the import
of cheaper American foodstuffs and genetically modified crops. But as in all these kinds of
negotiations, the devil is in the detail, and negotiators are wrestling with issues around
tariffs, those standards that I mentioned, and other market access issues such as licensing.
There’s a long way to go.
Newscaster: Thank you, Tom. This is clearly something we’ll be returning to again
and again.
1.3.8 Commentary
The draft TTIP agreement is a long and detailed document which includes a lot of
legal and economic language to pin down the detail. A general public TV audience
doesn’t want to hear about the detail and so Tom Cannon’s role is to give a very
brief, broad brush-strokes summary of the main points under negotiation. In order
to do this, he has to master the detail and boil it down to the required length using
straightforward language which makes it accessible to his audience. In doing so, he
is mediating between the document and the negotiators on the one hand and an
interested but non-specialist public. This is a skill which is needed in many walks
of life.
1.3.9 Task 13
Explain the differences between these two accounts of cheesemaking.

Account 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxm8jTzU_8o (listen to the first 4½ min-
utes with the woman’s voice).
Account 2
Pasteurised cheese is produced with milk that has been heated to a temperature of 72 °C for
15 seconds. Pasteurisation normally occurs between 70°C and 72°C , but methods vary and
in some processes the temperature and the duration of heating are changed. For example,
some cheesemakers prefer a method in which the milk is heated to 69°C for up to 40 min-
utes. This lower temperature process is preferred because it ensures that the natural
enzymes and bacteria needed in cheesemaking are not lost.
Another common process in cheesemaking is sometimes referred to as ‘cooking’ cheese.
In this method, the curds are heated or ‘cooked’ for a short time at a temperature between
40°C and 49°C, which makes the cheese firm enough but also soft and pliable. Many Italian
cheeses, such as Mozzarella are made in this way. (text freely adapted from an
Internet source)
1.3.10 Commentary
The first account is delivered orally and in a relatively informal way, characterised
by the use of ‘we’ to describe the steps in the process. The visual support brings the
speaker’s account to life in a very immediate way, and her emotional involvement in
the process also shines through. There are several moments when the main speaker
reveals her feelings (using first-person singular) about the job and about the cheese
she is making. The second written account is much more dispassionate, sticking to
the facts and describing the process objectively and impersonally through the use of
verbs in the passive voice. This is one more example of the versatility of language,
which enables us to make adjustments to an account like these according to personal
attitude, purpose, audience and medium of communication.
1.3.11 Summary
In this section, we have drawn attention to just a few ways in which we adapt our
use of language to different situations and for different purposes. Individual lan-
guage users develop the skills involved needed to make these adaptations to differ-
ent degrees, and as society has become more complex and multi-layered, they have
become more subtle and sophisticated. A police officer making an arrest will cau-
tion a suspect with a standardised and legally acceptable form of words, but the
same officer will need to keep notes on her/his procedures, explain them to a senior
officer, use them as a basis for interrogating the suspect and later in order to give
evidence in court. Each of these contexts is slightly different and will require adjust-
ments to the way she/he makes use of language in order to meet the different needs
of each situation. This kind of transition from one medium to another is not always
easy, even for native speakers of a language, but most professions require it to a
greater or lesser degree. However, languages which have matured over centuries,
and which have long-established written forms are able to accommodate adapta-
tions such as these and will continue to respond to any demands which are placed
on them in a fast-changing world. It could be argued, conversely, that minority lan-

guages such as those used by tribes in Papua New Guinea or in the Amazon jungle
are likely to be less capable of this kind of adaptation because of the restricted social
context in which they need to operate. As civilisation (and with it more established
languages) encroaches on areas like these, speakers of these less flexible languages
will be forced to start to adapt in order to survive. Pinker (2003) describes human
language as ‘an adaptation to the cognitive niche’.
(a) Write a ‘language diary’ to record the variations in the way you receive and use
language on a typical day. Make notes on what you learn from doing this.
(b) Think of a process that you are familiar with (e.g. making an omelette; chang-
ing a wheel on a car). Record yourself telling someone how to do it if he/she is
physically present. Then write down simple instructions for the same process to
be read by someone who is not present. What differences do you notice in the
language choices you make in each case? Why is it important for children to be
able to master both ways of describing a process?
1.4 Section 3: Identity and Culture in Language Use
We all use language to a greater or lesser extent to help to identify ourselves. This
kind of self-identifying may have a number of different triggers, for example the
need to be seen to belong to a particular region or city, the pressure to be accepted
in a particular social or professional group or a strong desire to represent oneself in
terms of cultural heritage or ethnicity. In this chapter, we will look at examples
of this.
1.4.1 Task 14
Read this extract from an essay about the Liverpool accent and, if possible, find an
example of the accent on the Internet to listen to. (i) How do you account for the
negative attitude towards some urban and regional accents? (ii) How do you explain
this statement by an exiled Liverpudlian: ‘When I’m back on Merseyside I quickly
drop back into Scouse.’ (the name for the accent)?
The Liverpool English accent has been regarded in society as being ill-educated and low
prestige. This stereotypical view could well be influenced by the media’s representation of
Liverpudlians, who are often portrayed in a negative or criminal way. In 2004, the BBC
1.4 Section 3: Identity and Culture in Language Use 15
conducted an online poll to determine attitudes towards the accents and languages in the
British Isles. The poll, of which there were 5000 participants, concluded that Asian,
Liverpool and Birmingham accents were “unpleasant to listen to and lacking in social
status” (BBC, 2004). In addition to this, participants were asked to rank celebrities by how
pleasant their accents are. The Liverpudlian accents of celebrities Cilla Black and Paul
O’Grady were received negatively by participants. Another survey of 1000 participants
conducted by Bury Technologies (BBC, 2009), also concluded that the accent is unpopular,
as Liverpool came out at the bottom of the poll of British accents. One third of Liverpudlians
who took part in the nationwide survey admitted to changing or calming down their accent
whilst being interviewed for a job in order to benefit their career. from: UKEssays.
(November 2018). Attitudes Towards Accents: The Scouse Accent. Retrieved from https://
www.ukessays.com/essays/languages/liverpool-accent.php?vref=1 (used with permission)
1.4.2 Commentary
Prejudice against some urban accents still exists in the UK, and there is no doubt
that people’s job prospects improve in inverse proportion to the strength of their
accents. Urban accents such as Scouse, Geordie and Brummie are markers of
belonging which their users value. There seems to be an association with a kind of
emotionally rooted tribal identity, when speakers of these varieties of English con-
front each other, for example at football matches. The same kinds of emotions come
to the fore, for example, when England play Australia in cricket matches. Accents
are generally the result of differences in the way the language is pronounced and
they usually remain comprehensible to speakers of the same ‘parent’ language, but
dialects may not be, as we shall see in the tasks that follow.
1.4.3 Task 15
In this video, a Malaysian English speaker checks whether her American friend can
understand some short samples of the dialect that has come to be known as
‘Manglish’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyKBBdITXoo
(i) Why is ‘Manglish’ usually seen as a dialect or a Creole variety of English
rather than just an accent? (ii) What has influenced the development of ‘Manglish’
as a dialect of English? (iii) Which aspects of ‘Manglish’ cause most difficulty to a
native English speaker?
1.4.4 Task 16
Consider the short extracts from an Indian news website in Fig. 1.2 below. Which
aspects of the language used show divergence from the ‘standard’ English which
you would expect to find in a British newspaper article?
(i) An estimated 17 lakh pilgrims visited the Vaishno Devi shrine in 2020 despite the
Covid-19 pandemic.
(ii) CEC Sushil Chandra, along with his various other deputies, held a
comprehensive review of present status and projected trends of the pandemic with
special focus in the five poll-going states.
(iii) The Speaker stressed on ensuring that sanitation and other arrangements are
in place at all places, as per official guidelines He also directed that adequate
arrangements for COVID positive officers and employees of Parliament may also be
made. This comes as Parliament heads toward Budget Session, even as the dates
have not been announced yet.
(iv) “Based on specific input generated by the Police regarding presence of terrorist
in Harwan/Shalimar area, a search operation was launched by Srinagar Police and
CRPF in the said area. During the search operation, the search party was fired
upon indiscriminately by hiding terrorist, which was effectively retaliated upon
leading to a brief shootout & elimination of a dreaded terrorist Saleem Parray,
linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT,” a police statement said. Soon after the
said operation, a second encounter erupted at Gasu in which a foreign militant was
killed
Fig. 1.2 Extracts from Indian news media. https://english.deepika.com/Index.aspx (accessed 28

January 2022)
1.4.5 Commentary
While ‘Manglish’, as a dialect, is widely understood right across Malaysia, there are
aspects of it, both lexical and grammatical, which would not be easily compre-
hended by other speakers of English. It is, however, essentially a vernacular, spoken
variety of English, not usually written down except in transcripts of spoken
exchanges. It has developed to its present state as a direct result of the blend of cul-
tures, languages and ethnicities in the population of Malaysia, with borrowings
from Mandarin and Cantonese, from Tamil and from Bahasa Melayu. It has also
made ‘economies’ in everyday expressions compared with most other varieties of
English, for example, the ubiquitous ‘Can!’ or ‘Can?’ which is a shortening of,
respectively ‘Yes, I can do that’ or ‘Can I do that?’
The Indian variety of English is underpinned and maintained by a huge media

industry as well as by the widespread consumption of ‘Bollywood’ movies. In a
2016 Guardian article, Kavitha Rao goes so far as to suggest that certain features of
Indian English (‘prepone’ and ‘needful’ are the examples in the title of the article)
could usefully be adopted by other varieties of the language, mainly because they
express something in a short and clear way which other varieties don’t have avail-
able. Indian English has well-established written as well as spoken conventions, and
these have historical and cultural roots. Interestingly, it is sometimes only variations
in pronunciation, stress and intonation that hinder intelligibility in Indian speakers
of English.
In these extracts, the references which other users of English would find difficult
or unusual are mainly in items of vocabulary such as ‘lakh’ in the first extract (a
short and convenient term for a hundred thousand), or ‘poll-going’ in the second
extract, which is a neat coinage to avoid a whole clause. The use of a preposition
after ‘stress’, as in extract 3, is common in almost all South Asian varieties of
English. In the same extract, you may be struck by the use of ‘even as’ to introduce
a clause where British English would use ‘even though’. The omission of articles
before nouns in the fourth extract is typical of Indian journalese, and it is also a
common phenomenon in spoken Indian English. Some vocabulary choices in this
extract also stand out, for example ‘said’ (slightly anachronistic and more formal
than is usual in British newspaper English), and ‘shootout’ and ‘erupted’ which are
both rather informal but very graphic as word choices. You may also have noticed
the rather unusual embedded clause ‘which was effectively retaliated upon’, prob-
ably also an economy in the number of words needed to express the message. None
of these features effectively inhibit understanding and that is almost always the case
with written Indian English.
Other languages also have their dialects. There are several Creole varieties of
French in Africa, and also in Louisiana in the south of the USA. These all arose in
the aftermath of the colonial era. The situation in Switzerland with the Swiss dialect
of German is different. High German speakers have difficulty understanding Swiss
German, but all educated Swiss German speakers can also speak and write High
German. The dialect has developed over centuries, and is mainly characterised by
deviations in pronunciation, but there are also lexical differences. There is a written
form of Swiss German, appearing mainly in works of literature that are not well
known outside the region.
In all of these cases, and as with accents, people identify very closely with the
dialect or variety they use. It helps to define who they are, to give them a sense of
belonging and to give them a sense of their local, regional or national roots. But all
of these features derive from the culture in which individuals grow up and are
immersed in from birth onwards, as we shall see in the tasks that follow:
1.4.6 Task 17
Consider these short exchanges and explain the speakers’ choices of language in
each case:
Case 1 Two British males in their twenties:
“Hello, mate. How’ve you been?”
“Can’t complain. You? Still out of work?”
Case 2 Two British teenage girls.
“Hey, Laura. Not speaking to me, then?”
“Course I am, silly! I just didn’t see you. We’re still good.”
“Even after last night?”
“It’s all good! I’m over it.”
Case 3 British female shop assistant and immigrant customer after a transaction.
“Thanks, darling. See you later!”
“Thank you!”
(afterwards, to a friend) “Why does she always call me darling? It’s
embarrassing.”
“Oh, don’t worry. They all do that.”
1.4.7 Commentary
In Case 1, we see immediately that the two speakers are known to each other, probably
friends. ‘Mate’ is a very common mode of address between males, most often
adults. The reduced reply and the single word question in the second speaker’s reply
are a further sign of informality, as is the enquiry about the first speaker’s employ-
ment status. All these features are in keeping with the unspoken cultural norms
among British men. There is no awkwardness between them.
Case 2 is an example of teenage culture in action. The first speaker immediately
engages her friend with a question about their relationship, which is clearly impor-
tant to her. The second speaker is quick to put her mind at rest, reinforcing her reas-
suring message, and then dealing in a similar way with the follow-up question,
repeating her informal use of ‘good’. The language used in this exchange is rooted
in teenage culture and the accompanying norms of a friendly relationship. The
uncertainty in the mind of the first speaker is connected with her concern about the
status of her friendship, but she addresses her worry in a direct and uninhibited way,
which may also be normal in the teenage peer group that they both belong to.
Case 3 is an example of a cultural misunderstanding. The female shop assistant
probably routinely addresses her customers (possibly both male and female) as
‘Darling’ and this may seem completely strange to a non-British customer, who
might easily misinterpret it. The uncertainty that characterises this kind of
misunderstanding can be disturbing for any outsider to a particular culture. In this

case, the customer checks it out with a friend who puts his mind at rest.
Hofstede defined culture as ‘the collective programming of the mind that distin-
guishes the members of one group or category of people from others’ (2012), and
this is very clearly expressed in the language used in the first two cases, but obvi-
ously not in Case 3 where the speakers come from different cultural backgrounds.
In the next task we shall see how identity and culture sometimes come together
and cause difficulties.
1.4.8 Task 18
In the 2011 census in Northern Ireland, respondents were asked to tick a box to
define their ethnicity. The options are listed in Table 1.4. What difficulty might
someone of mixed race, e.g. with mixed-race parents and grandparents, have with
this form?
Table 1.4 Extract from census form
What is your ethnic group?

>>> Tick one box only
White □
Chinese □
Irish Traveller □
Indian □
Pakistani □
Bangladeshi □
Black Caribbean □
Black African □
Black Other □
Mixed ethnic group, write in
Any other ethnic group, write in
1.4.9 Commentary
This is typical of problems with forms designed by people of one culture to be filled
in by people of many different ethnicities. It also illustrates the limitations of the
language we have available to define ethnicity. Our mixed-race respondents may
have three or four different ethnicities in their background and may be at a total loss
as to how to put this into words in the space available. Irish Travellers may prefer to
describe themselves as ‘White’ and may suspect discrimination of some kind. And
why is colour used to define some ethnicities but not Chinese, Pakistanis, Indians or
Bangladeshis? In fact, these descriptors impact on a person’s identity, and may

cause disorientation or even dysphoria in someone completing the form, who may
not fully comprehend the reasons why this kind of categorisation is important to a
government.
1.4.10 Task 19
Read this personal account of an experience dating back to the writer’s student days.
Why was the writer in two minds about the experience? Also, why do some speak-
ers of a foreign or second language aspire to native-speaker levels of proficiency?
I got to see much of Germany and Central Europe in the sixties by hitch-hiking around, as
was common in those days among students like myself. I was lucky to meet with so much
kindness and companionship among the drivers who picked me up and helped me on my
way. They were often glad to have someone to talk to to relieve the monotony of long spells
at the wheel. I had extra curiosity value for some of them because I was English, and for me
it was a chance to practise my German. They often bought me coffee or a snack when we
stopped along the way. On one occasion, I was picked up near Freiburg by a driver heading
south, to Basel, and he shocked me by asking what life was like in North Germany. I asked
him why he had asked. ‘Don’t you come from Hamburg, then?’ he asked by way of reply. At
first, I was flattered that he had taken me for a German, but when I began to think about it
later, I wasn’t so sure. (personal anecdote)
1.4.11 Commentary
Of course, the writer was initially pleased to be identified as a German (North

German spoken varieties are closer to English than those in South Germany), but
when he thought about it, perhaps he was happy about his ‘curiosity value’ as an
Englishman, which possibly also encouraged German drivers to treat him to coffees
and snacks! Being identified as an Englishman who speaks German was probably
closer to the self-image he wanted to project. Nonetheless, native-speaker profi-
ciency in a language remains an aspiration for many language learners, particularly
for immigrants who want to be accepted in the country they now call home.
1.4.12 Summary
In this section, we have but scratched the surface of some of the issues surrounding
the ways in which language is intertwined with identity and culture. There are many
other aspects which could be considered in much more depth in a more specialised
work than this one. However, we hope we have raised some awareness in our read-
ers of the complexity of these interrelationships, and how they can potentially affect
1.5 Section 4: Language and Power 21
us in everyday life, in encounters with strangers and acquaintances in an increas-

ingly globalised world, and ultimately in how we define ourselves both publicly and
privately. Language itself is a cultural artefact and yet it is needed to describe all
aspects of the culture it has sprung from. How this characteristic impacts on lan-
guage in education will be explored later in this book.
Meanwhile, in the next section, we will move on to consider some of the factors
which can make language and its users powerful.
(a) To what extent is your personal identity expressed through your language? If
you also have a second or foreign language, how does speaking it affect your
sense of identity?
(b) How can you, as a teacher, acknowledge and value language and cultural differ-
ences in your learners?
1.5 Section 4: Language and Power
Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and
liberation. (Angela Carter)
Angela Carter’s words, quoted in a posthumous edition of her writing (1997), reso-
nate just as much now as when she wrote them. The all-pervasive power of language
is with us every single day of our lives, whether we always recognise it or not. In
this chapter, we look at some ways in which this power is wielded for different pur-
poses and with varying degrees of clarity or subtlety. We start with a short and
simple task.
1.5.1 Task 20
Read these short extracts and identify their provenance and purpose. What linguistic
clues enabled you to do this?
Extract 1.
‘…. have inherited many characteristics that continue to set them apart from their
contemporaries—superb performance, ergonomic design features, longevity and
award-winning reliability. Along with powerful suction, and a five-year parts guarantee,
these features are among many that make …’
Extract 21
… ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we dreamed of being was
you kept your knee on our neck. We were smarter than the underfunded schools you put us
in but you had your knee on our neck. We could run corporations and not hustle in the
street, but you had your knee on our neck. We had creative skills, we could do what anybody
else could do, but we couldn’t get your knee off our neck. What happened to Floyd happens
every day in this country, in education, in health services and in every area of American life.
It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks.’
Extract 32
1. The public hallways, stairways, and fire escapes of the building may not be
obstructed. DO NOT leave bicycles, toys, garbage bags or any debris in the
public halls at any time!
2. Garbage should be tied up in bags and carried out to the garbage cans at the
street curb. DO NOT place garbage in the hallways or under the stairs.
3. Do not throw garbage out the windows into the yard. The yard is to be kept clear
of garbage and debris at all times.
4. The roof shall not be used for storage. Tenants should not go to the roof for any
purpose.
5. Children shall not be allowed to play in the public hallways or stairs.
6. Quiet hours shall be between 11 pm and 8 am on weekdays, and 11 pm and
11 am on weekends. During these hours, tenants may not play loud music, oper-
ate heavy machinery, or make any loud noises which may disturb their neighbors.
7. Tenants are responsible for the behavior of their guests. A violation of the house
rules by a guest will be treated as a violation by that tenant.
8. Tenants shall maintain their apartments in a condition that does not create fire
and/or health hazards, including noxious odors.
Tenants who wish to make any alteration in their apartments must first seek offi-
cial approval.
1.5.2 Commentary
The first extract is from an advertising leaflet for vacuum cleaners. Its purpose is to
sell. The power needed to sell or promote products lies in the language chosen, here
as so often, through adjectives and through the description of unique selling points:
‘five-year guarantee’, ‘ergonomic design features’, etc.
The second extract is taken from a eulogy by the Rev. Al Sharpton for George
Floyd, a black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis in June 2020. The
power in his address comes from his use of the rhetorical device of repetition, here
1
Al Sharpton’s Eulogy for George Floyd, Houston Texas 4 June 2020.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/rev-al-sharpton-americans-knee-222300657.html.
2
freely adapted from an Internet source
used to stir emotions by recalling the way in which George Floyd was killed, by the
knee of a policeman on his neck, making it impossible for him to breathe, and used
here as a metaphor for the repression that many African Americans experience.
Repetition is a rhetorical device commonly used by politicians and preachers to
drive home a point to an audience or congregation.
The third extract is from a set of house rules intended for tenants to abide by.
The power here can be seen in the writer’s use of modal verbs: ‘may not’, ‘shall’,
‘shall not’, ‘is to’, ‘should not’, ‘must’, as well as in the use of imperative verbs,
some of them capitalised for particular emphasis. These choices have been typical
of written rules and regulations ever since the ten commandments first appeared in
English in Tyndale’s translation in 1534.
1.5.3 Task 21
Look at the slogans from recent political campaigns in Fig. 1.3 and also at the quote
from Fairclough below them. How are they related? What part does language play
in each message?
The exercise of power in modern society, is increasingly achieved through ideology, and
more particularly through the ideological workings of language. (Fairclough 2014)
FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW (Labour)

BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE
GET BREXIT DONE! (UK Conservative Party)
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! (US Republican Party)
Fig. 1.3 Political slogans
1.5.4 Commentary
Slogans are powerful, as any political spin doctor will tell you. They can make
the difference between victory and defeat in any election. But the most effec-
tive ones are short and pithy, expressing ideology in a very concise and con-
vincing way.
The Labour Party slogan expresses one of the core ideas of socialism and targets
the perceived gulf between rich and poor. ‘By the People and for the People’ is also
an egalitarian slogan which echoes Lincoln’s words in his famous Gettysburg
Address. ‘Get Brexit Done’ cleverly appealed to the many people in the UK who
were tired of all the argument about leaving the European Union. The last slogan,
used in the Republican presidential election campaign in 2017, is designed, to strike
a chord with the large number of voters who were unhappy with Barak Obama’s
presidency and who wanted the USA to ‘recover’ economically and reputationally.
All the slogans are underpinned by ideology and are designed to influence voters’
thinking at a crucial time. Their conciseness appeals to a significant proportion of
any population who don’t want to listen to long speeches and arguments, and who
want political messaging to be short, clear and targeted.
Fairclough argues in several of his publications that critical discourse analysis
should be part of the national curriculum and taught in schools so that citizens are
not susceptible to ideological manipulation and can make up their own minds about
what politicians tell them. This seems to have become even more important now
that so many messages are spread on social media, and in an era when ideologies
can all too easily become the basis for radicalisation and ultimately acts of terror.
The next task invites you to look at part of a speech with a critical eye.
1.5.5 Task 22
Cicero was famous for his powers of oratory. What makes this commonly quoted,
translated extract from one of his speeches so powerful? Who is he appealing to?
What do you notice about the language he uses?
Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed
and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him
triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the
‘new wonderful good society’ which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean ‘more money,
more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.’ ~ Marcus
Tullius Cicero https://www.azquotes.com/author/2894-Marcus_Tullius_Cicero
1.5.6 Commentary
This extract is in part a reproach to Julius Caesar himself, with whom Cicero had
fallen out, and partly an attempt to make Roman citizens aware of the way in which
Caesar had ‘bought’ their loyalty. Some commentators have seen it as one of the
first anti-capitalist speeches. His use of imperatives and his choice of the word
‘blame’ invite the audience to collude with him. He also strikes a sensitive chord by
referring to ‘loss of freedom’ which is a core value for his fellow citizens, and clev-
erly implies that they have inflicted this loss on themselves in a kind of
Mephistophelian pact with Caesar. Cicero was famous for his ability to sway the
mood of his audiences in the Forum and elsewhere simply through the power of his
words. The struggle he was often engaged in is captured neatly in this additional
quotation from Fairclough’s ‘Language and Power’:
Broadly speaking, inculcation is the mechanism of power-holders who wish to preserve

their power, while communication is the mechanism of emancipation and the struggle
against domination (2014, p. 75)
Small wonder that present-day politicians strive to attain Cicero’s levels of orato-
rial proficiency and to find ways of encapsulating key messages as economically
and effectively as he did!
In the tasks that follow, we look at how power is wielded in interpersonal terms,
and how it is expressed in language.
1.5.7 Task 23
In this dialogue between a chief executive and one of his senior managers, comment
on the power relationship and how language is used to reinforce it.
“You have been guilty of gross negligence and you are dismissed with immediate effect.”
“But I ….”
“No ifs, no buts. You have 20 minutes to get your things together, clear your desk and
vacate your office.”
“You’ll be hearing from my solicitor!”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
(freely adapted from a literary source)
1.5.8 Task 24
In this extract, what linguistic and non-linguistic means does the teacher use to exert
his power over the students?
Father Arnall came in and the Latin lesson began and he remained still, leaning on the
desk with his arms folded. Father Arnall gave out the theme-books and he said that
they were scandalous and that they were all to be written out again with the correc-
tions at once. But the worst of all was Fleming’s theme because the pages were stuck
together by a blot: and Father Arnall held it up by a corner and said it was an insult
to any master to send him up such a theme. Then he asked Jack Lawton to decline the
noun ‘mare’ and Jack Lawton stopped at the ablative singular and could not go on
with the plural.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” said Father Arnall sternly. “You, the leader of
the class!”
Then he asked the next boy and the next and the next. Nobody knew. Father Arnall
became very quiet, more and more quiet as each boy tried to answer it and could not. (from
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce)
1.5.9 Commentary
In each of the extracts above, a power relationship is enacted with the help of lan-
guage. In the first extract, the chief executive delivers his message with a minimum
of words, but clearly and unmistakably. He goes on to cut short his manager’s
response by interrupting him and setting a time limit for him to clear his office. He
responds to the threat from the manager ironically, to show that he is not concerned
about the consequences of his decision.
In the second extract, the teacher initially imposes his presence on the class by
standing still. Then he accompanies the handing out of the theme books (exercise
books that students write in) by using the strong word ‘scandalous’, by holding up
one of the books and describing the owner’s behaviour as an ‘insult’. The switch by
Joyce to direct speech in the account brings the encounter to life as Father Arnall
uses his power to shame the class leader because he is unable to decline a Latin
noun. The fearful atmosphere is intensified by the teacher’s silence as the class
proceeds.
In interpersonal encounters like these, people use language in different ways in
order to exert power and influence. In both of these rather dramatic cases, status and
physical dimensions like seating or standing and body language also play a part in
determining where the power lies, but power games are carried out every day in a
smaller, often less consequential way, in playgrounds, in workplaces, round family
dinner tables and on sports fields everywhere as people seek influence over others.
Language is always a key part of such processes.
1.5.10 Summary
In this section, we have looked at just a few instances of the relationship between
language and power. We are not always aware of the extent to which these types of
uses of language can affect our thinking and decision-making, and there is a strong
case for raising awareness of the relationship in children from an early age, so that
they can exercise their rights as citizens more effectively when they reach adult-
hood. This may seem to be a fundamental democratic value, though it has never
been a popular one with autocrats or in systems where the state wants to control and
manipulate its citizens.
(a) In what ways can you, as a teacher, raise your learners’ awareness of the ways
in which language is used to wield power?
References 27
(b) In your own educational context, or in a context you are familiar with, how
much importance is given to this kind of critical awareness? What factors might
prevent it from being prioritised?
1.6 Conclusion
In this introductory unit, we have examined some of the language-related issues

which may concern us all, whether at home, in our communications with others, and
in spoken and written language. In the next unit we will look more closely at some
of the key concepts in language and how they are interpreted in educational settings.
References
BBC. (2004). Online Poll on Regional Accents. http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/poll_

results.shtml
BBC. (2009). News Report on Survey of Accents by Bury Technologies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/
hi/business/7843058.stm
Campbell, A. (2014). The Effects of Text Messaging on Students’ Literacy. Retrieved April 15,
2020, from https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/handle/10342/4582
Carter, A. (1997). Shaking a Leg: Collected Writings. Penguin Group USA.
Essays, UK. (2018, November). Attitudes Towards Accents: The Scouse Accent. https://www.uke-
ssays.com/essays/languages/liverpool-accent.php?vref=1
Fairclough, N. (2014). Language and Power (3rd ed.). Longman.
Hofstede, G. (2012). Hofstede’s fifth dimension: new evidence from the World Values Survey.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1), 3–14.
Joyce, J. (2008). Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Oxford University Press.
Pinker, S. (2003). Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche,’ in Christensen, M. and
S. Kirby (pp. 16–37).
Rao, K. (2016, January 4). Don’t Prepone It—Do the Needful. 10 Indianisms We Should All
Be Using In The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/04/
indian-english-phrases-indianisms-english-americanisms-vocabulary
Schulz von Thun InstitutDas Kommunikationsquadrat. http://www.schulz-von-thun.de n.d.
accessed 21.10.2022
Sealy, A. (1996). Learning about Language. Open University Press.
Slone, I. B. (2013). “Who Survives, Who Doesn’t?” An Interview with Margaret Atwood. Retrieved
April 15, 2020, from https://hazlitt.net/feature/who-survives-who-doesnt-interview-margaret-
atwood
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deficient in the discharge of my duty, I hope it will be imputed to want
of ability, and not of integrity.
“Fully sensible of the importance of the office I have the honour to

hold, I cheerfully commit it into the hands of those who properly are,
and ever must be, the guardians of the public good. I am, sir, with
great respect, your most obliged and very humble servant—
“David Rittenhouse
“The honourable the Speaker of the Assembly.”
From the commencement of the year 1777, at which period Mr.

Rittenhouse was invested with the treasurership of his native state,
until the month of September following, when its capital was actually
possessed by the British army, that city was in imminent danger of
an hostile invasion. When it was reduced to a moral certainty, that
the speedy occurrence of such an event was inevitable, he had
retired with the treasury (as before noticed) to Lancaster, as a place
of security; where he remained until the succeeding summer: when,
after the evacuation of the capital by the British forces, he returned
thither, and replaced the treasury in its ancient seat. The time,
therefore, at which he accepted the office of treasurer, was truly one
of “difficulty and danger.”
That it was not, for many years, a lucrative place, must be

apparent from the ever memorable circumstance of the great and
unexampled depreciation of that species of paper-currency, called
continental money;[235] which was the only circulating medium of the
United States, until the year 1782, when the bank of North America
went into operation. The vast accumulation in the treasury, of that
depreciated and daily depreciating substitute for money, must
necessarily have been “extremely burthensome” to the treasurer,
and could not have afforded him “any prospect of profit,” during the
first five years of his tenure of the office. And it was not, in fact, until
those last few years, which constituted the interval between the time
of augmenting the commissions and his retirement from the office,
that the treasurership was profitable to him. During the greater part
of the time he held it, the profits of the office did not enable him to
employ even a clerk: nor could he have performed the numerous
and laborious duties of that station (such as they then were,) had he
not been greatly assisted by the assiduity, care and abilities, of an
excellent woman—Mrs. Rittenhouse. Singular as this circumstance
may appear, this notice of it seems due to the memory of an highly
meritorious wife; while, on the other hand, it must be acknowledged,
that it does not reflect any honour on the liberality of a great, wealthy,
and populous state. Such a man as David Rittenhouse ought to have
been otherwise employed, by a generous and enlightened public: the
exercise of his transcendent talents, in works of great and
permanent public utility, would not only have constituted services
which would have entitled him to a bountiful remuneration; but such
as would have conferred great additional benefits and honours on
his country.
That he should have had, in thirteen years, successively, an

unanimous annual vote for the office of treasurer, is a very strong
testimonial of the exalted sense which his countrymen entertained of
his integrity: it would have been so, under a popular government, at
any period. But when it is considered, that, during the whole of the
time he held the treasurership, the people of Pennsylvania were
divided into two opposing parties, which sprung into existence with
the adoption of the state-constitution of 1776, the unanimity of their
representatives in favour of this individual, is still more conclusive
evidence of his merits. Most of those men in the community, best
acquainted with human nature, and practically versed in the science
of politics, very early pointed out the radical defects of the new frame
of government; and predicted the utter incompetency of that
instrument, as they conceived, to promote the true interest and
happiness of civil society. In a single legislative body, a plural
executive, and in a limited duration of the judicial authority—
consequently, an undue dependence of the judges on the executive
for their re-appointment,—they foresaw those evils, which were too
soon realized: and in a septennial council of censors, such as that
constitution provided for,[236] they beheld a political chimera, at
variance with common sense and the experience of mankind. Men
entertaining these views, formed, of course, one of these parties.
The other was composed of the projectors of the constitution of

1776, and other speculative politicians; together with all those whom
they were enabled to influence, through the medium of their
prejudices, their inexperience or their interests.
These two parties continued to divide the state, until the adoption
of the fœderal constitution. The great and multiplied evils which
resulted to the people of the United States, after the restoration of
peace, and which had also been severely felt during the greater part
of the war, from the inefficacy of the original confœderation of the
States, had convinced all thinking men of the necessity of forming a
more energetic national government, as the only remedy for those
evils. And the actual formation of such a government, aided by the
long experience which the citizens of Pennsylvania had then
acquired, of the injurious effects of their own existing constitution,
disposed them soon after to establish the present constitution of the
state, which was done in convention on the 2d of September 1790; a
form of government, free from the palpable errors of the preceding
one, and much more consonant to the genius and spirit of the
fœderal constitution.
It is, then, a very extraordinary circumstance, and one that reflects

great honour on the character of Mr. Rittenhouse, that, in the long
course of years during which the people of Pennsylvania were thus
divided into two contending parties, he alone could unite the
favourable opinion of both parties, respecting his superior claims to
hold one of the most important offices in the government.
Although little more than six years and an half intervened, from the
time of Mr. Rittenhouse’s resigning the treasurership of the state,
until the period of his decease, literary and other public honours then
flowed in upon him. He enjoyed, likewise, the satisfaction of
experiencing, during that short interval, multiplied proofs of the
esteem in which his abilities and character were held, both at home
and abroad. And, notwithstanding it appears to have been his wish,
when he retired from the treasury, to decline for the future any official
situation, or public employment of any kind, not connected with
science; in order that he might, without interruption, devote the
remainder of his life to his favourite pursuits; a variety of public
trusts, some of them requiring arduous duties, were constantly
pressed upon his acceptance.
Shortly before he resigned the treasurership, the degree of Doctor

of Laws was conferred on Mr. Rittenhouse, by the College of New-
Jersey: his diploma bears date the 30th of September, 1789. This
respectable seminary had given him the degree of Master in the
Arts, seventeen years before[237]; and this new honour was a further
pledge of the high estimation in which he continued to be held by the
regents of the institution. His diploma for the Doctorate has a place
in the Appendix.
The College at Princeton, in New Jersey, then possessed—as she

still does—the first Orrery constructed by Dr. Rittenhouse; a
monument of his genius and abilities, that seemed to give him a just
claim to this highest academical honour, appropriate to his character,
which the college could confer.
This institution, called Nassau Hall, was founded about the year
1738; but its original charter was enlarged by Governor Belcher, in
1747. The president and trustees of Nassau Hall possessed a
power, by their charter, of granting to “the students of the college, or
to any others thought worthy of them, all such degrees as are
granted in either of the universities, or any other college, in Great
Britain.” This privilege, it is believed, was not enjoyed generally—if at
all, in any other instance[238], by the American colleges, before the
revolution; as it is supposed they were restricted, prior to that era, to
the conferring of degrees in the Arts only. But all the superior
seminaries of learning, in the United States, now possess the right of
creating Bachelors and Doctors, in Divinity, Law, and Medicine: and
it is greatly to be wished, that they may always dispense these high
academic honours with impartiality and a due discretion.
The college-edifice at Princeton is a stately and durable one,
constructed of stone; and it will afford satisfaction to the reader, to be
informed, that in this building is deposited the Rittenhouse Orrery. He
will derive additional pleasure from learning, that this grand machine
has, lately, been repaired in some considerable degree, and at a
great expence, by the ingenious Mr. Henry Voight, of the Mint: by
whom, that belonging to the University of Pennsylvania, has likewise
been put in good order. Neither of these Orreries appeared to have
suffered any material injury from the British troops, during the war of
the revolution; though it has been generally believed, they did. The
libraries, indeed, and some of the apparatus, belonging to both the
colleges in which the Orreries are placed, experienced great losses
from the presence of an hostile army in their vicinity: but the officers
of that army seem to have respected these greater works of human
ingenuity.[239]
On the first day of January, 1790,[240] Dr. Rittenhouse was elected

one of the Vice-presidents of the American Philosophical Society; his
colleagues, in this office, being the Rev. William Smith, D. D. and
John Ewing, D. D. both of them able and distinguished astronomers.
This appointment he held but one year; in consequence of the

death of Dr. Franklin,[241] on the 17th day of April following.[242]
In supplying the vacancy which had thus occurred in the

Presidentship of the Society, the members of that body could not
hesitate in selecting, for that honourable station, a suitable
successor to their late venerable patron and chief: the eyes of all
were immediately directed towards Dr. Rittenhouse. He was
accordingly elected to be President, at the stated annual meeting of
the Society for the purpose of chosing their officers, held in January,
1791. On being notified of this appointment, he addressed the
following letter to Mr. Patterson, one of the secretaries of the Society.
“Philadelphia, Jan. 22 1791.
“Sir,
“I am extremely sensible of the honour the members of the
Philosophical Society have done me, by electing me their President,
in the room of that very worthy patron of the Society, the late Doctor
Franklin.
“They have, by this act of theirs, laid an additional obligation on

me to promote the interests of the institution, by the best means in
my power, to which I shall ever be attentive; though my ill state of
health will frequently deny me the pleasure of attending the stated
meetings.
“I send you, herewith, two letters which you will please to

communicate to the society.—I am, Sir, your very humble servant.
“David Rittenhouse.”
“In this elevated situation, the highest that Philosophy can confer
in our country,” says his learned and eloquent Eulogist,[243] “his
conduct was marked by its usual line of propriety and
dignity.”—“Never,” continues his Eulogist, “did the artificial pomp of
station command half the respect, which followed his unassuming
manners in the public duties of this office. You will,” says he, “often
recollect, Gentlemen, with a mixture of pleasure and pain, the
delightful evenings you passed in the Society, every time he
presided in your meetings. They were uniformly characterized by
ardour in the pursuits of science, urbanity, and brotherly kindness.”
About the time of Dr. Rittenhouse’s elevation to the Presidency of

the Philosophical Society, and indeed pretty generally afterwards,
the delicate state of his health confined him much to his house and
his observatory. On a dry day, he would, occasionally, walk a little
abroad; in the proper seasons, he would now and then recreate
himself in a pretty little flower-garden adjoining his house, which Mrs.
Rittenhouse took pleasure in decorating. His evenings were
uniformly passed at home; except at the times of the stated meetings
of the Philosophical Society, when he usually attended, if the
weather permitted.
Besides a few of his most intimate friends, who were in the habit of
visiting him pretty often towards the close of the day[244], many
strangers of distinction, and persons who had no particular claims
upon him on the score of friendship, made him occasional visits at
other times: but in such portions of his time as he could retrench
from these avocations, he was much employed in reading; and the
books he read comprehended works of literature, taste, and science.
He blended the utile cum dulci, in the choice of his subjects; and
while he devoted some of what might be called his leisure hours,
such as were abstracted from his more appropriate pursuits, to
works of amusement, he did not neglect studies of a more serious
and important nature. He was at no loss for books: independently of
his own collection, he had ready access to two valuable and
extensive public libraries[245]; those of several literary gentlemen
were open to him; and some of his friends occasionally supplied him
with new publications. The following note addressed to him by Mr.
Jefferson, in the beginning of the year 1791, will shew that Dr.
Rittenhouse then devoted some attention to chemistry, and that he
continued to read works of natural science, in French, as well as in
his own language.
“Th. Jefferson sends to Mr. Rittenhouse Bishop Watson’s essay

on the subjects of chemistry, which is too philosophical not to merit a
half an hour of his time, which is all it will occupy. He returns him Mr.
Barton’s papers[246], which he has perused with great pleasure; and
he is glad to find the subject has been taken up by so good a hand:
he has certainly done all which the scantiness of his materials would
admit. If Mr. Rittenhouse has done with the last number of the
Journal de Physique, sent him by Th. J. he will be glad to receive it,
in order to forward it on to Mr. Randolph: if not done with, there is no
hurry.
“Monday morning.”
The relation in which Dr. Rittenhouse now stood to the American
Philosophical Society, of which he had attained to the honour of
being the President, renders it proper that some account should be
given, in this place, of an institution heretofore distinguished by its
Transactions. The following are the leading features in its history.
This Society was instituted on the 2d day of January, 1769, by an

union of two literary societies that had subsisted some time
previously, in Philadelphia. In the same year this united body
petitioned the general assembly of the province to grant them the
privilege of erecting a building, suitable for their accommodation, on
some part of the State-House square. But the Library Company of
Philadelphia, also a very useful and respectable institution and a
much older corporation, having about the same time made a similar
application to the legislature, in their own behalf, the prayer of
neither was then granted. The latter have, long since, erected for
their accommodation a large, commodious and elegant structure[247],
on a lot of ground purchased by them for the purpose, in the
immediate vicinity of the public square originally contemplated for its
site.
A second petition was presented to the general assembly by the

Philosophical Society, for the same purpose, soon afterwards;
though without success. But, finally, in pursuance of another
application to the state legislature by the Society, for the same
object, a law was enacted on the 28th of March, 1785; by which a lot
of ground (being part of the State-House Square) was granted to
them, for the purpose of erecting thereon a Hall, Library, &c. “for their
proper accommodation.”
The ground appropriated by the legislature, for this purpose,

contains seventy feet in front on (Delaware) Fifth-Street, (and nearly
opposite the Hall of the Philadelphia Library-Company,) and fifty feet
in depth; on which the Society erected, between the years 1787 and
1791, a neat, convenient, and spacious edifice: it was completed
under the direction and superintendence of Samuel Vaughan, Esq.
formerly a vice-president of the Society; and by means of this
gentleman’s disinterested exertions, principally, somewhat more than
$3500 were obtained from about one hundred and fifty contributors,
towards defraying the expense of the building. Dr. Franklin gave at
sundry times, towards this object, nearly $540 in the whole amount.
[248]
The act of assembly of 1785 having, however, restricted the

corporation of this Society, not only from selling or transferring, but
from leasing, any part of the ground thus granted to them, or of the
erections to be made on it, a supplement to that act was obtained,
on the 17th of March, in the following year; authorizing the Society to
let out any part of their Building, for such purposes as should have
an affinity to the design of their institution; but restricting the profits
arising from any such lease to the uses for which the Society was
originally instituted. The cellars and some of the apartments in the
house, have been leased accordingly; and the profits arising from
these leases constitute a considerable part of the Society’s funds,
which are of very moderate extent. The resident members pay to the
Treasurer a small annual assessment, fixed by a by-law of the
Society: these payments, in addition to occasional donations in
money, made by members and others,[249] form the residue of the
funds of the Society; besides which, they receive from time to time
valuable presents, in books, astronomical and other instruments, &c.
Their library, philosophical apparatus, and collections of various
kinds, are now respectable.
The objects of this institution are readily comprehended, from its

name; the style of the corporation being—“The American
Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia, for promoting Useful
Knowledge:” And with this view, in its formation, the fundamental
laws (passed on the 3d day of February, 1769,) direct, that “The
members of the Society shall be classed into one or more of the
following committees:
1. Geography, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and
Astronomy.
2. Medicine and Anatomy.
3. Natural History and Chemistry.
4. Trade and Commerce.
5. Mechanics and Architecture.
6. Husbandry and American Improvements.”
The same original laws and regulations of the Society indicate the
style of the several officers of the institution, and prescribe the duties
of their respective stations: they likewise direct the manner in which
the general economy of the Society shall be managed, and their
proceedings, in the more appropriate business of their institution,
arranged and conducted. “These Rules,” say the Society (in an
Advertisement prefixed to the first volume of their Transactions,)
“were adopted from the Rules of that illustrious Body, the Royal
Society, of London; whose example the American Philosophical
Society think it their honour to follow, in their endeavours for
enlarging the sphere of knowledge and useful arts.”
The Officers of the Philosophical Society are—a patron, who is the

governor of the state for the time being—a president—three vice-
presidents—a treasurer—four secretaries, and three curators,—
together with twelve counsellors; which last board of officers was
created by an act of the legislature, in the year 1780, and the same
law designates the duties of their appointment.
The number of members of this Society is not limited: it consisted

of three hundred, forty years ago; and, probably, now amounts to
about four hundred and fifty. Of this number, however, a large
proportion is made up of foreigners; many of whom are eminent
personages, and men of the most distinguished abilities in various
departments of science, in different parts of the world.
The Proceedings, hitherto, of this very respectable association of

literary and scientific characters, have been published in six[250]
quarto volumes, denominated the “Transactions” of the Society:
Besides which, several learned and ingenious Orations—including
two or three of much eloquence, under the title of Eulogiums—have
been delivered before the Society and by their appointment, by
members of their body.
These outlines will serve to furnish the reader with some ideas of
the nature, condition, and character of an institution, which has, in
many respects, reflected honour on the country to which it belongs.
Its usefulness,[251] it is earnestly to be wished, will not be suffered to
diminish, by any declension of that noble ardour in cultivating, that
public spirit in promoting, learning and science, which, while they
adorn the names of individuals, contribute to the glory of a nation.
Let a hope be still cherished, that notwithstanding the tumult, the
folly, and the distractions, which at the present day pervade a large
portion of the civilized world, the period is not remote, when
tranquillity, good sense and order, shall resume their blest dominion
over the conduct of the too many now infatuated nations of the earth.
—Let a belief be yet encouraged, that under the guidance of a
benign Providence, not only the rising generation will be found
zealous to emulate the fair fame of a Franklin and a Rittenhouse;
but even, that good and rational men in our own time, and among
ourselves, will continue to cultivate the arts of peace, and to promote
those objects of literature and science, which, at the same time they
meliorate the heart and elevate the mind, contribute to the happiness
of the individual and the general welfare of mankind.
Dr. Rittenhouse’s attachment to the interests of the institution of

which he had been thus recently elected President, was amply
manifested soon after. In the month of November, of the same year,
he presented to the Society, the sum of 308l. (equivalent to 821⅓
dollars,) for the purpose of discharging a debt due by their
corporation to the estate of the late Francis Hopkinson, Esq. the
treasurer, then deceased. This liberal donation was thankfully
received; and the acknowledgments of their grateful sense of it were
made to the donor, by the following address,—expressive as well of
their feelings on the occasion, as of the high opinion they entertained
of his merits and character.
“To David Rittenhouse, Esq. LL.D. President of the American
Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for promoting Useful
Knowledge.
“Sir,
“The American Philosophical Society embrace the present

occasion of a meeting for stated annual business, to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter, dated Nov. 15th, addressed to their
treasurer; in which you are pleased to inform him, that you have paid
the 308l. due to the late Judge Hopkinson, and will lay the bond and
mortgage before the Society; expressing your hopes, that this
benefaction, on your part, may “encourage the Society to exert
themselves to get rid of some other heavy debts and incumbrances.”
“This renewed instance of your liberality joined to the

consideration of the illustrious part which you have taken in their
labours, for many years past, has made such an impression upon
them, that they are at a loss in what manner they can best express
their gratitude, or their respect and veneration for your name.
“At any time, and in any country, such a “brilliant present” would
indicate a mind that can feel the inseparable connection between
Learning and Human Felicity: But in the present state of our
finances, it is a most important benefaction; and a noble specimen of
Literary Patronage in a young empire, where many other
improvements must share with the Arts and Sciences, in the public
attention and bounty.
“We are sensible of the necessity of extinguishing the other heavy

debts of the Society, with all possible speed, and have appointed a
proper committee for that purpose.
“Signed in behalf, and by order, of the Society, at a meeting held

the 16th day of December, 1791.
“John Ewing, William Smith, Th. Jefferson, Vice Presidents.

“James Hutchinson, Jonathan Williams, Samuel Magaw,
Secretaries.”
To which address, Dr. Rittenhouse returned this answer.
“Gentlemen,
“The satisfaction I feel, in contributing something towards

promoting Science, the interests whereof are, I am persuaded,
inseparable from those of humanity, is greatly increased by your very
polite approbation.
“My sincerest wishes are, that you may ever merit public
encouragement, and enjoy the patronage of the generous and the
good.”
In the spring succeeding Dr. Rittenhouse’s election to the

Presidency of the Philosophical Society, his name was included,
jointly with those of Thomas Willing, Esq. and the late Samuel
Howell, Esq. in a commission to receive subscriptions, in
Pennsylvania, to the Bank of the United States. This appointment
was made by President Washington, on the 26th of March, 1791.
Soon after, he was commissioned by Governor Mifflin to be one of

three joint “Agents of Information,” relating to the business of
opening and improving certain roads, rivers and navigable waters, in
Pennsylvania. His colleagues in this commission were the Rev. Dr.
William Smith and William Findley, Esq. and this board of
commissioners, whose appointment bears date the 10th of May,
1794, was erected in pursuance of an act of assembly, passed the
13th of April, preceding. These gentlemen, it appears, proceeded on
that service; for, about two months after their appointment, monies
were advanced to them, towards defraying the expences to be
incurred in executing the duties of their commission.
These duties, it is believed, were in some way connected with an

investigation of the most practicable route for a turnpike-road
between Philadelphia and Lancaster. A company, which had been
formed some time before, for the purpose of constructing such a
road, were incorporated by the governor of the state, by virtue of a
law passed the 9th of April, 1792. Dr. Rittenhouse was a member of
that company, and he actually superintended the surveyors, who
were employed in tracing one of the then contemplated routes: Dr.
Ewing was likewise engaged in the same service. Neither of those
gentlemen held any appointment for such purposes, from the
managers of the turnpike-company, nor received any compensation
from them, for their services: it is therefore presumed, that Dr.
Rittenhouse officiated under the commission last mentioned; and
perhaps Dr. Ewing acted, also, under a similar commission.[252] The
former, however, was himself one of the board of managers; in which
capacity he acted as a member of several committees, particularly in
1792: but at the end of that year, he declined to continue any longer
a manager.[253]
It has been before noticed, that, on the elevation of the College of

Philadelphia to the grade of an University, by an act of assembly
passed in November, 1779, Dr. Rittenhouse was one of the trustees
of the new institution, created by that law. On the 30th of September,
1791, almost twelve years afterwards, a compromise was effected
between the respective advocates of the old and the new institution;
a law of the state being then passed, “to unite the University of the
state of Pennsylvania, and the College, Academy and Charitable
School of Philadelphia, &c.” By this act, the then existing trustees of
each institution were to elect twelve trustees; and the twenty-four
persons who should be thus chosen, together with the governor of
the state for the time being, as president of the board, were to be the
trustees of this united seminary, under the denomination of “The
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.”
On this occasion, Dr. Rittenhouse was again chosen a member of

the corporation, on the part of the University, the election having
been made the 3d of November, 1791; at which time, Bishop White
was president of the board of the College trustees, and Dr. M‘Kean,
late governor of Pennsylvania, of that of the University. By an act of
assembly, passed the 6th of March, 1789, so much of the act
erecting the University, as affected the charters, franchises and
estates of the College of Philadelphia, had been repealed, and the
powers of the former trustees revived: but by the act of 1791, all the
estates of the two institutions were vested in this one, composed of
both.
The union of the separate interests of those seminaries, it may be

reasonably expected, will eventually prove a fortunate circumstance:
because, by its extinguishing the jealousies and rivalship[254] that
heretofore subsisted between the friends of each, which must, too,
have continued to operate, had they remained separate; and, by
consolidating their estates and pecuniary resources into one fund,
greatly encreasing the sphere of their usefulness, beyond the ratio in
which they could have been enjoyed separately; the important
interests of literature might be expected to be proportionably
advanced. A doubt can not be entertained, that this was an object
very desirable by the benevolent Rittenhouse, as well as by the
trustees, generally, of these conjoint institutions.[255]
It has been already noticed, that the first academic honour

conferred on Dr. Rittenhouse, was obtained from the College of
Philadelphia: he might therefore consider it as being his Alma Mater;
and his attachment to that seminary must have been strengthened,
by the circumstance of one of his (only two) Orreries having been
acquired by it, and its being deposited in the college-edifice. But,
besides these considerations, he officiated, for some time, as Vice-
provost and a professor in the institution, after it became an
University. To the first of these stations, he was elected on the 8th of
February, 1780; having been unanimously appointed professer of
astronomy, the 16th of December preceding: a salary of one hundred
pounds per annum was annexed to the vice-provostship, and three
hundred pounds per annum to the professor’s chair. These places
Dr. Rittenhouse resigned, the 18th of April 1782.
Thus attached to, and connected with, this very respectable

seminary of learning, as Dr. Rittenhouse was, the following
occurrences in the history of its origin and advancement, will not be
deemed uninteresting, by the reader.
The Academy and Charitable School, of Philadelphia, originated in

the year 1749. This institution, which was opened in that year, was
projected by a few private gentlemen; and many others, of the first
respectability, gave their countenance to it, as soon as it became
known: some of them were, on its first establishment, appointed
trustees of the infant seminary.
The persons on whom the charge of arranging and digesting the

preparatory measures for this important undertaking, were Thomas
Hopkinson,[256] Tench Francis,[257] Richard Peters and Benjamin
Franklin, Esquires.[258] The last mentioned of these distinguished and
patriotic gentleman draughted and published the original proposals;
and on the opening of the Academy, another of them, Mr. Peters,
(afterwards D. D. and rector of Christ’s-Church and St. Peter’s in
Philadelphia,) who long officiated as provincial secretary, preached
an appropriate sermon—on the 7th of January, 1751—from these
words (St. John, viii. 32.) “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free.”—“This reverend and worthy gentleman” said
Dr. Smith, in his account of this institution, first published among his
works in the year 1762 “(who, amid all the labours of his public
station, as well as the private labours in which his benevolence
continually engaged him, has still made it his care to devote some
part of his time to classical learning, and the study of divinity, to
which he was originally bred,) took occasion, from these words of
our blessed Saviour, to shew the intimate connexion between truth
and freedom,—between knowledge of every kind, and the
preservation of civil and religious liberty.”
The Rev. William Smith, M. A. (afterwards D. D.) was inducted, on

the 25th of May, 1754, as head of this seminary, under the title of
Provost, with the professorship of natural philosophy[259] annexed to
that station.
On the 14th of May, 1755, an additional charter was granted by

the Proprietaries to this seminary, by which a College was engrafted
upon the original Academy: a joint government was agreed on for
both, under the style of “The College, Academy and Charitable
School, of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania;” and this enlarged
institution became invested with a power of conferring degrees, and
appointing professors in the various branches of the arts and
sciences.
The first commencement, in this College and Academy, was held

the 17th of May, 1757;[260] on which occasion, an excellent charge
was delivered to the graduates, by the Provost. One passage in that
charge is so patriotic and impressive, as to merit attention at all
times, in a country that boasts of a free constitution of government;
its introduction at this time, and on the present occasion, cannot be
considered improper: it is the following animated and eloquent
exhortation to active patriotism, in times of misrule, popular delusion,
and public danger:—
“Should your Country call, or should you perceive the restless

tools of faction at work in their dark cabals, and ‘stealing upon the
secure hour of Liberty;’ should you see the corruptors, or the
corrupted, imposing upon the public with specious names,—
undermining the civil and religious principles of their country, and
gradually paving the way to certain Slavery, by spreading destructive
notions of Government;—then, Oh! then, be nobly roused! Be all
eye, and ear, and heart, and voice, and hand, in a cause so glorious!
Cry aloud, and spare not,—fearless of danger, regardless of
opposition, and little solicitous about the frowns of power, or the
machinations of villany. Let the world know, that Liberty is your
unconquerable delight; and that you are sworn foes to every species
of bondage, either of body or of mind. These are subjects for which
you need not be ashamed to sacrifice your ease and every other
private advantage. For, certainly, if there be aught upon earth suited
to the native greatness of the human mind, and worthy of contention,
—it must be to assert the cause of Religion, and to support the
fundamental rights and liberties of mankind, and to strive for the
constitution of your country,—and a government of laws, not of Men.”
In the year 1765, the original plan of this institution was greatly
enlarged, by the addition of the Medical School;[261] with the
appointment of Professors,[262] for reading lectures in anatomy,
botany, chemistry, the materia medica, the theory and practice of
physick, and also for delivering clynical lectures in the Pennsylvania
Hospital.[263] Since that period, and after the erection of the whole of
the College-establishment into an University, the Medical department
has been still further extended, by the creation of other
Professorships in the Schools of Medicine, and filling these new
chairs—as well as those originally instituted—with men of
distinguished learning and abilities: By which means, the Medical
School in Philadelphia, connected with the University of
Pennsylvania, now justly vies with that of Edinburgh, in celebrity.
The whole of the literary and scientific institution, thus formed—

which, besides the Medical Schools, was composed of the College,
the Academy and the Charitable School, continued under the
provostship of the Rev. Dr. Smith, assisted by able teachers and
professors,[264] from his induction in the year 1754, until the
establishment of the University, in 1779:[265] during which time,
comprehending a period of twenty-five years, this seminary
increased in reputation and flourished; and indeed it was indebted
for much of its respectability and usefulness to the zeal,[266] the
talents and the services of Dr. Smith.
This gentleman was educated in the university of Aberdeen,[267] in

Scotland, where he graduated as Master of Arts. He soon after
obtained clerical orders, in the Church of England; and, in the year
1759, he was honoured with the degree of Doctor in Divinity, from
the University of Oxford, on the recommendation of the archbishop
of Canterbury, and the bishops of Durham, Salisbury, Oxford and St.
Asaph.[268] About the same time, he received a similar degree from
the University of Trinity-College, Dublin. Dr. Smith died the 14th of
May, 1803, at the age of seventy-six years.
On the 10th of April, 1792, an act was passed by the general

assembly of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of enabling the governor
to incorporate a company for opening a canal and water-
communication between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill: and by
this act, David Rittenhouse, William Moore, Eliston Perot,
Cadwallader Evans, jun. and Francis Johnston, Esquires, were
appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions of stock, for
constituting a fund for this purpose.
Thus, after having been engaged in the course of eleven years, at

a prior period, in the improvement of a great natural highway of his
native country, he was again employed, in conjunction with others,
by the legislative body of that country, after a lapse of nineteen years
from the time of his first appointment to a similar duty, in forwarding
the great design of uniting more intimately, and more beneficially for
the purposes of agriculture and commerce, the waters of the
beautiful stream near whose banks he was born, with those of the
majestic Delaware.
This comparatively inconsiderable appointment was presently after

succeeded by a most important one. Dr. Rittenhouse was
commissioned to be Director of the Mint, by President Washington,
the 14th of April, 1792; but he did not take the requisite qualifications
for that office, until the 1st of July following. He entered upon the
duties of this arduous and very respectable station with great
reluctance: it was, indeed, pressed upon him; not only by Mr.
Jefferson, then secretary of state, with whom Dr. Rittenhouse had
long been in habits of intimate friendship; but (through the means of
Mr. Secretary Hamilton, of the Treasury,) by the illustrious President
himself, who always entertained the highest regard for him: and this
esteem was mutual, notwithstanding some “shades of difference” in
the political tenets of these two great and good men; for no person
could hold a more exalted opinion of the integrity, abilities, and public
services of Washington, than Dr. Rittenhouse uniformly did. Such
was the extreme diffidence with which our Philosopher accepted this
appointment thus honourably conferred on him, that he declined, for
a considerable time, to be sworn into office; until, finally, on applying
to the writer of these memoirs, he obtained his promise to render
such assistance to him as he should be able to do, in the event of his
own incapacity, from want of health or by reason of any incidental
circumstance, to devote a sufficient portion of his time to the duties
of the station. Although the writer was never required to act in the
capacity thus proposed to him, circumstances not occurring to
render it necessary, he shall always consider the arrangement then
made upon the subject, on the voluntary proposition of Dr.
Rittenhouse, as an estimable testimonial of his confidence in his
friend and relative: yet the writer would have introduced the mention
of these particulars, into the present work, with greater hesitation
than he does, did he not conceive that a statement of facts of this
kind will evince the delicate sensibility of Dr. Rittenhouse, on the
occasion.
As soon as he had determined to accept the Directorship of the

Mint, he began to make suitable arrangements for carrying the
institution into operation. Towards this end, he suggested to the
secretary of state the expediency of purchasing two contiguous
houses and lots of ground, conveniently situated, for the
establishment; in preference to taking buildings upon lease, for a
purpose that seemed to require something like a permanent position.
His proposal relative to this matter, it appears, was communicated to
the secretary of state, for the purpose of being submitted to the
consideration of the President: for, on the 9th of June, 1792, his
approbation of the plan was expressed in the following note to the
secretary.
“Dear Sir,
“I am in sentiment with you and the Director of the Mint, respecting

the purchase of the lots and houses which are offered for sale, in
preference to renting—as the latter will certainly exceed the interest
of the former.
“That all the applications may be brought to view, and considered,

for Coining &c., Mr. Lear will lay the letters and engravings before
you, to be shewn to the Director of the Mint:—I have no other object
or wish in doing it, than to obtain the best. Yours, &c.

Language Sensitive Teaching and Learning A Resource Book For Teachers and Teacher Educators Richard Rossner Full Chapter

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Language-Sensitive Teaching and

Learning: A Resource Book for

ISBN 978-3-031-11338-3 ISBN 978-3-031-11339-0 (eBook)

1.3.11 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13

2.2.5 Commentary���������������������������������������������������������������������� 35

3.1.11 Commentary���������������������������������������������������������������������� 63

3.5.7 Task 24 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������  92

4.3 Section 3: The Range of Genres which Children should be able to

5.3 Section 2: Tasks for Teacher Training���������������������������������������������� 144

5.5.7 Task 31 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 172

Fig. 1.1 The Four Sides Model (JazzyJulius, public domain,

Table 1.1 Roles and purposes in language use����������������������������������������������������� 2

What Is Language-Sensitive Teaching?

The Aim of the Book

What Does the Book Contain?

Using the Book

‘Language’ is a catch-all term for a means of communication. It is generally

1.2 Section 1: Users of a Language as ‘Social Agents’

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Table 1.1 Roles and purposes in language use

Table 1.2 Sample SMS exchange

Why didn’t u come yesterday? ☹ RUOK?

With developments in modes of communication like these in mind, it may be useful

Table 1.3 A four-dimensional model of language and communication

1.2.16 Some Questions for Reflection

(a) Think of an example of a miscommunication which you have experienced. Try

1.3 Section 2: Variations in Language Use

Explain the differences between these two accounts of cheesemaking.

on them in a fast-changing world. It could be argued, conversely, that minority lan-

1.3.12 Some Questions for Reflection

1.4 Section 3: Identity and Culture in Language Use

Fig. 1.2 Extracts from Indian news media. https://english.deepika.com/Index.aspx (accessed 28

The Indian variety of English is underpinned and maintained by a huge media

misunderstanding can be disturbing for any outsider to a particular culture. In this

Table 1.4 Extract from census form

What is your ethnic group?

Any other ethnic group, write in

Bangladeshis? In fact, these descriptors impact on a person’s identity, and may

Of course, the writer was initially pleased to be identified as a German (North

us in everyday life, in encounters with strangers and acquaintances in an increas-

1.4.13 Some Questions for Reflection

1.5 Section 4: Language and Power

FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW (Labour)

Broadly speaking, inculcation is the mechanism of power-holders who wish to preserve

1.5.11 Some Questions for Reflection

In this introductory unit, we have examined some of the language-related issues

BBC. (2004). Online Poll on Regional Accents. http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/poll_

“Fully sensible of the importance of the office I have the honour to

“The honourable the Speaker of the Assembly.”

From the commencement of the year 1777, at which period Mr.

That it was not, for many years, a lucrative place, must be

That he should have had, in thirteen years, successively, an

The other was composed of the projectors of the constitution of

It is, then, a very extraordinary circumstance, and one that reflects

Shortly before he resigned the treasurership, the degree of Doctor

The College at Princeton, in New Jersey, then possessed—as she

On the first day of January, 1790,[240] Dr. Rittenhouse was elected

This appointment he held but one year; in consequence of the

In supplying the vacancy which had thus occurred in the

“Philadelphia, Jan. 22 1791.

“They have, by this act of theirs, laid an additional obligation on

“I send you, herewith, two letters which you will please to

About the time of Dr. Rittenhouse’s elevation to the Presidency of

1.3.11 Summary�� 13

2.2.5 Commentary�� 35

3.1.11 Commentary�� 63

3.5.7 Task 24 �� 92

4.3 Section 3: The Range of Genres which Children should be able to

5.3 Section 2: Tasks for Teacher Training�� 144

5.5.7 Task 31 �� 172

Table 1.1 Roles and purposes in language use�� 2

What Is Language-Sensitive Teaching?

The Aim of the Book

What Does the Book Contain?

Using the Book

1.2 Section 1: Users of a Language as ‘Social Agents’

1.2.16 Some Questions for Reflection

1.3 Section 2: Variations in Language Use

1.3.12 Some Questions for Reflection

1.4 Section 3: Identity and Culture in Language Use

1.4.13 Some Questions for Reflection

1.5 Section 4: Language and Power

1.5.11 Some Questions for Reflection